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david weiss

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Posts posted by david weiss

  1. Brad Mehldau on Bill Evans

    in Artists

    Posted

    We all seem to get compared to someone at some point and sometimes it really sticks and while initially you might be flattered after a while you are pigeonholed and as years go by, you start to get really sick of it.

    Backlash ensues......

    And yes sometimes you go overboard and don't really mean to be that harsh but enough is enough sometimes.....



    I've heard musicians criticize other musicians before so you're right, nothing new under the sun. I just feel a little sad that he has to put down a fellow pianist/jazz musician and for what? Headline grab or just in a funky mood or maybe he's tired of being compared to someone that he doesn't feel a simpatico with. That's all fair in my book too but at the same time, we all know how hard it is being a jazz musician, especially these days and even though in this case the other person isn't alive, I still think it's unnecessary to put down others. Does he have a right to an opinion? Of course he did as you pointed out Paul but I don't get why he had to say it to someone interviewing him. The jazz musicians who I've heard say negative things about others said it in a private conversation and I've not repeated any of it. That too is unnecessary imo.

    Musicians have done blindfold tests and have criticized other musicians in print. Musicians have occasionally done reviews and have criticized other musicians in print. Probably musicians have criticized ther musicians in interviews. It's human nature to have opinions and sometimes those opinions are made publicly. To me, they're just opinions and I take them as such - nothing more.

    I recently did a blindfold test and yes, there was perhaps some criticism.....

    It was under the guise of just talking honestly about the music at hand but some will certainly take it as criticism......

  2. Best Live Performance by Classic Bands

    in Recommendations

    Posted

    Jim's dead on with Miles/Coltrane, Trane 1965, Newk ... and yeah, McDuff Live!

    Also Ornette at the Golden Circle!

    And Blakey at the Bohemia, plus - not really a classic band, but still Blakey's core guys: the Birdland one with Morgan/Mobley - that one has been a top favourite in my house ever since I got it (which was a looong time ago, I was in my teens and ordering huge boxes of stuff from TrueBlue and Mosaic, one of the first of them contained that 2CD set).

    Then Mingus, of course ... the 1964 Europe tour! I'm hard pressed to name a favourite, maybe the two Enja sets?

    Cecil Taylor's "Student Studies" and "Neferetiti"

    Albert Ayler "Prophecy"

    Archie Shepp "Live in San Francisco"

    Mal Waldron "Seagulls of Kristiansund"

    Woody Shaw "Stepping Stones"

    Monk "Misterioso"/"Thelonious in Action"/w Coltrane at Carnegie Hall

    not sure which of these bands really qualify, the avant guys rarely had steady gigs and personnel changed ... the Little/Dolphy/Waldron/Davis/Blackwell unit would fit, but they only had one gig for one week - still a classic band in my book though!

    Btw, is there really no live documentation of Ornette/Cherry/Haden/Blackwell ca. 1959/60?

    Yes, the 1964 Mingus.....

    I went through a lot of that stuff ages ago and can't recall a favorite.....

    I guess I'm going to have to get the Mosaic box and go through all that stuff again.....

    Having toured like that and with what I consider some really good bands, it's usually very good no matter what even if you are tired or what have you but then there are those special nights and then you hope the tapes are rolling and it's captured. I haven't always had the best luck with this....

    It's interesting to see this phenomena with even the best bands there ever were.....

  4. Miles Davis - So What: Complete 1960 Amsterdam Concerts

    in Mosaic and other box sets...

    Posted

    Now I'm not 100% certain about this but the 50 year copyright rule (or the 75 year or whatever) applies to the release date, not when it was recorded so technically, these live recordings don't fall under the 50 year rule.

    For it to be a legitimate release, the label in question has to buy or license the recording from the radio station or TV station who has made the recording. The label then has to negotiate a fee with the leader and all the sidemen on the recording and of course pay them. I see some claims above of this actually happening but I'm a little skeptical to say the least. I was told about this aspect of the law by someone at Blue Note years ago as this was going to be their way of going after all these people but not for live recordings though. If suspicious label A released the complete Lester Young Aladdin Sessions because they were over 50 years old and therefore "legal" to release, they would get in trouble anyways if they included the alternate as those were released for the first time either on a 2-fer released in the '70s or on CD later and therefore not released 50 year ago. It might not be a question of it being released though, it could be when it was copyrighted. Not when the tune was copyrighted by the composer but when the recording was copyrighted by the label. This copyright probably wouldn't include material that wasn't released so it wouldn't have been copyrighted at the time but was certainly copyrighted when it was released in the '70's for the 2-fers or the '90s if it was alternate take that first saw the light on CD. I believe Blue Note was contemplating legal action based on this but it the end found it just wasn't worth their time or more precisely their lawyer's time, not cost effective......

  7. Best Live Performance by Classic Bands

    in Recommendations

    Posted

    Absolutely Jim, Sonny Rollins by all means.....

    I love when there is documentation of 4 or 5 dates (or more) from the same tour to compare and contrast and one of my favorites of that ilk is Sonny's 1959 European tour.

    I think you're right, Aix En Provence might be the highlight of that tour....something to do with Kenny Clarke perhaps?

    That's an interesting tour because LaRoca left early on and there were subs from town to town like Clarke and Joe Harris.

    The 1968 stuff is sick as well, that Four is unreal......

    Regarding Miles, I'll have to go back to the Paris stuff. That's the concert where they are booing Coltrane if I recall correctly. I heard the Unique Jazz one first and sometimes that first impression/discovery is hard to overcome.

    I don't seem to have Creation but when I googled it, the cover looked very familiar. I'm sure I had it, I guess someone "borrowed it". Has it come out on CD? If not, I guess I'll have to track down the vinyl.

    I'd love to hear more Trane suggestions. The other stuff I've fully researched but I have some catching up to do with the live Coltrane stuff.....there is just so much of it......

  8. Best Live Performance by Classic Bands

    in Recommendations

    Posted

    I was going through the two Live Miles Davis CD sets that have come out recently and realized that these had included what I always thought were the best performances by these respective bands that I have heard......from the 1967 set, Antwerp and from the 1969 set, the second show at Antibes.

    As for the 1967 band, arguments can certainly be made for the Plugged Nickel stuff of course but while the band is incredible there, Miles' chops are not up because he was coming off a long lay off. On the Antwerp concert, he is in fine form and it was a really special night for everyone it seems. My other favorite is My Funny Valentine but since that has George Coleman, technically

    it's not the band.

    As for the 1969 group, I have never heard anything the reaches the level of the second Antibes concert. Miles is completely off the hook on the gig, his chops are amazing. It is some of the strongest trumpet playing I have ever heard. The band is great as well.

    I'd like to hear if any of you have any other favorites from these bands but I'm more curious to hear feedback as to what you think is the best live recording you have heard from Miles' first great quintet or the John Coltrane Quartet.

    For the Miles first great quintet, I'm not sure where it is from but we used to call it the Unique Jazz gig because it was a bootleg on a label called Unique Jazz (we're talking vinyl here of course).

    As for the Coltrane Quartet, I really have no idea, I'm hoping to get some great feedback from you guys......

  9. CDs for sale

    in Offering and Looking For...

    Posted

    Guys,

    Give me a second to sort this out.....

    You all want the same 4 CDs (the Mazurek's and Formanek's).

    When you send a second e-mail, it takes you out of your place in line as it were so I have to go through all this and see who indeed e-mailed me first.

    I'll get back to you as soon as I can.....

  10. CDs for sale

    in Offering and Looking For...

    Posted · Edited by david weiss

    Housecleaning again.....

    Postage $2.50 for the first CD in a nice mailer, 50 cents per CD after that.......

    Overseas- actual postage

    $7

    Luis Perdomo "The 'Infancia' Project" Criss Cross Sold

    Amir El Saffar "Two Rivers" Pi

    Donny McCaslin "Casting For Gravity" Greenleaf Sold

    Michael Formanek "The Rub and Spare Change" ECM Sold

    Jason Palmer "Here Today" Steeplechase

    Gretchen Parlato self produced

    Jenny Scheinman "Mischief & Mayhem"

    Denis Charles IVtet "Captain of the Deep" Eremite Sold

    Louie Bellson and Clark Terry Louie & Clark Expedition 2" Percussion Power Sold

    Miles Davis "1969 Miles Festiva de Juan Pins" Sony Japan

    $5

    Rez Abbasi "Bazaar" Zoho Sold

    Randy Sanke "The Subway Ballet" Evening Star Sold

    Akua Dixon " Moving On"

    Bill Moring "Spaces in Time" Owl Studios

    Gonzalo Rubalcaba "Faith" 5 Passion

    Chip White "Personal Dedications & Percussive Tributes"

    Alex McCabe "Quiz" CAP

    Bart Wirtz "Dreamer" Challenge (with Nicholas Payton)
    Bill Easley "Business Man's Bounce" 18th & Vine

    John Hart "Standards Green and Blue" Hep Jazz

    Kellylee Evans "Nina" Plus Loin

    Afro Cubano Chant Hip Bop (with Gato Barbieri and Bob James)

    Rob Mazurek Pulsar Quartet "Stellar Pulsations" Delmark (Promo Magic Marker in Bar Code) Sold

    Rob Mazurek Octet "Skull Sessions" Cuneiform (Promo Hole Punch in Bar Code) Sold

    Noah Preminger "Before the Rain" Palmetto (Promo Hole Punch in Bar Code)

    Michael Formanek "Small Places" ECM (Promo Scratch through Bar Code) Sold

    Bill Frisell "Beautiful Dreamers" Savoy (Promo Magic Marker in Bar Code) Sold

    Nicholas Payton "Sonic Trance" Warner Brothers (Promo Magic Marker in Bar Code)

    Joey DeFrancesco "Wonderful! Wonderful!" (with Larry Coryell and Jimmy Cobb) High Note (Promo Hole Punch in Bar Code)

    Pat Metheny "Unity Band" Nonesuch (Promo Magic Marker in Bar Code)

    We Three "Three for All" (Dave Liebman, Steve Swallow, Adam Nussbaum) Challenge (Promo Notch in Spine)

    John Hicks "Crazy for You" Red Baron (Promo Tiny Hole Punch in Bar Code)

    The Blue Note All Stars "Blue Spirit" Blue Note (Promo Notch in Spine)

    Carlo DeRosa's Cross Fade "Brain Dance" Cuneiform (Promo Hole Punch in Spine, Promo Sticker on front case)

    Darren Johnston's Gone to Chicago " The Big Lift" PFR (Promo Sticker on back cover)

    Bob Mover "It Amazes Me" Zoho (Promo Hole Punch in Bar Code)

    Black Note Nothing But the Swing" Impulse (Promo Magic Marker in Bar Code, Promo Sticker on Cover)

    Russell Gunn "Ethnomusicology Volume 3" Justin Time (Promo Hole Punch in Bar Code)

    Antonio Hart "Don't You Know I Care" BMG Novus (Promo Hole Punch in Bar Code)

    Hip Bop Essence All-Stars "Afrocubano Chant Two" Hip Bop (Promo Hole Punch in Bar Code)

    Miles Davis Quintet "Masqualero" Jazz Birdie's of Paradise (1967 Antwerp)

    Miles Davis "In Newport" Legendary Collection Series (Newport 1966 and 67)

    Miles Davis "Starlight in Black" Legendary Collection Series (Tokyo July 12,1964)

    Miles Davis "No (More) Blues" Jazz Door (Portland 1966 St. Louis 1963

    Miles Davis "Miles in Berlin" Super Sonic (Berlin 1969)

    $10 (Sealed)

    The Cookers "Warriors" JLP (Extended Artist's Cut)

    David Weiss and Point of Departure "Venture Inward" Posi-tone

    $7 (Sealed)

    David Weiss and Point of Departure "Snuck In" Sunnyside

    David Weiss and Point of Departure "Snuck Out" Sunnyside

    $5

    The New Jazz Composers Octet "The Turning Gate" Motema

  12. Wayne Shorter's Without A Net on the Blue Note label

    in New Releases

    Posted

    One more thing...I've gotten less and less determined to have music as I "like" it in order to "appreciate" it. This in regard to some of the comments about certain players in this band...I've heard the group live just once (fairly early on at that), but, you know, shows circualte these days...and this music is all about making choices of the moment in the moment, and I've never heard any of the individual players make a choice that just fucks everything up, ya' know, brings everything to a screeching halt or throws everybody off so much that pfffllllttttt the whole thing goes. Seems to me that everybody is attuned enough to everybody else that whatever input comes is taken in with an implicit, deep trust, which in improvisational music is a much more rare - and ballsy - quality than might be imagined. Even "pure improvisers" have comfort zones...

    Just sayin' - different players might make this band different, but different would not necessarily be better. Sometimes "it is what it is" is more valuable than "it's not what it should be", especially if "it is what it is" is what everybody involved collectively wants/needs it to be.

    But do you think they are taking big risks? The kind of risks that have huge payoffs a lot of the time but can also result in big mistakes/train wrecks?

    Yes? No? Maybe? Sometimes? If opportunity presents itself? Size of reward not always related to size of risk? Surviving is the biggest risk of all?

    Exactly Jim.....

    I think you described it well before I even tried to respond....

    If any of the individual players are making choices that just fuck everything up, we are certainly not hearing it overtly in that way.....

    My initial impression of the group was they all waited with baited breath to react to what Wayne did as opposed to say what Herbie Hancock did which was to create a mood for Wayne to play over. This created a stasis of sorts as no one really seemed to take charge or really even direct things but there would be these short peaks that would create some genuine excitement and then would quickly go back to where they started. They have made this their language though and over 12 years have refined it into more of a group improvisation thing that certainly has it's moments and is certainly more then that to those who find this sort of thing deep and enjoyable (to each his own of course). It's been 12 years and they have certainly evolved and taken the music somewhere. Since I guess we have all been listening to the 1969 Miles stuff though and I assume most here have heard most of that stuff from the beginning of the band until the end, for comparison sake (though not fair I guess), see how far that band went in 7 months time, how they morphed into an almost completely different sound in that short period of time in the course of finding their true group sound.

  13. Wayne Shorter's Without A Net on the Blue Note label

    in New Releases

    Posted · Edited by david weiss

    What kind of payoff? The kind where the jazz audience stand up and cheer; where critics proclaim instant classic? Does risk taking necessarily mean that one has to fail first?

    One of the reasons why I like this quartet so much is that collectively they are more interesting and dynamic than as individuals. In some ways Wayne has the leader role that Miles once had, but on his own terms.

    Any kind will do....but more of a live fleeting thing I guess.....the audience might stand up and cheer or just be too blown away in the moment to do anything.....

    It's all sort of nice and flowing but if anyone is taking big chances they are certainly doing it within the context of that nice and flowing thing which doesn't seem like the biggest risk in the world to me...

    No pain, no gain.....

  14. Wayne Shorter's Without A Net on the Blue Note label

    in New Releases

    Posted

    The funny thing about the current group is that conceptually it started taking off where the very earliest Weather Report left off, just with acoustic textures & with Wayne as the "dominant" driver (or if you like, alpha Male :g ) instead of Zawinul. so it's not like nobody's ever even though of doing anything like this before. But those are big differences in how the results turn out and in what direction they've eventually gone. For me personally, I think it's a great way to think and play, to have reference points (i.e. - compositions) in place as reference points without ever needing to explicitly mark them out as you go along or even having them unfold is a set order, or even to exist as "this, now this, now this". You can have "this and this, then this while that but be ready to bring this in too, or to take it out" and so on.. Structural fluidity to the max. And that's not a really "new" concept either, but this group of players and this group of material does end up being quite unique and, if they hit their zone and the listener is in theirs, exciting. I get how it might be too "abstract" for some folks, but hell, jazz itself, any of it, is too abstract for a lot of people. Oh well!

    So yeah, I've got this pre-ordered, and yeah, I'm looking forward to hearing it. I've never not looked forward to hearing what Wayne's got to say now, even if some of it is more gripping than others. None of it has ever been even remotely cheap or worthless. It's always made sense to me, both the "what" and the "why". So if I say that Footprints Live grabbed me more than Beyond The Sound Barrier, all that's saying is that on the former, we were more in the same place at the same time than on the latter, which is, of course, always as subject to reexamination and redistribution as this music itself is.

    Good point Jim, I was talking about this with a fairly prominent musician who has played with Wayne and Herbie et al and he sort of was saying the same thing but emphasized he thought Wayne, with this band, was picking up where he left off with Odyssey of Iska and Super Nova a little more then early Weather Report but it's all pretty much the same. I have to go back to all and see for myself a little.....

  15. Miles Davis: The Bootleg Series, volume 2

    in New Releases

    Posted · Edited by david weiss

    When I did my comparison to the Japanese single disc, I definitely hear the greater clarity that Lon refers to on the new Bootleg 2 box. On the other hand, I felt that the bass and drums were louder/higher up in the mix on the Japanese version and that the tone of the bass more prettier on the Japanese - that may reflect the "drier" sound on the Bootleg 2 box that ShowsOn refers to.

    My two cents.

    I think reverb was added in the mastering of the Japanese cd. And it muddies things up for me, and makes bass and drums sound thicker, slower, maybe "pretiier," but not "prettier" to me on my system. The new one is a definite upgrade for me.

    There is definitely reverb added to the Japanese CD. It's a bit too much and quite artificial but it does help warm some things up and makes most of the instruments sound fuller (this is what reverb is supposed to do actually) and while that is nice, the reverb is just too artificial to make this a more pleasant listening experience. They could have used a different sort of reverb or less of it and it might have had a better overall effect (as in it makes everything fuller and warmer but you don't actually hear more reverb). This new version could have used a little of that, it's bright and a little thin but a better overall listening experience I guess. I've had copies of this stuff for years and I actually still like the sound of my raw boots better then this.

    I'm just glad this stuff is out. I love it. Miles is so strong of these CDs (and most of the 1969 stuff). I've used the second show at Antibes to debunk the Miles is not a great trumpet myth many times. That second show has some of the most intense, powerful trumpet playing ever to me, especially on Masquelero.

  19. Wayne Shorter's Without A Net on the Blue Note label

    in New Releases

    Posted

    One more thing...I've gotten less and less determined to have music as I "like" it in order to "appreciate" it. This in regard to some of the comments about certain players in this band...I've heard the group live just once (fairly early on at that), but, you know, shows circualte these days...and this music is all about making choices of the moment in the moment, and I've never heard any of the individual players make a choice that just fucks everything up, ya' know, brings everything to a screeching halt or throws everybody off so much that pfffllllttttt the whole thing goes. Seems to me that everybody is attuned enough to everybody else that whatever input comes is taken in with an implicit, deep trust, which in improvisational music is a much more rare - and ballsy - quality than might be imagined. Even "pure improvisers" have comfort zones...

    Just sayin' - different players might make this band different, but different would not necessarily be better. Sometimes "it is what it is" is more valuable than "it's not what it should be", especially if "it is what it is" is what everybody involved collectively wants/needs it to be.

    But do you think they are taking big risks? The kind of risks that have huge payoffs a lot of the time but can also result in big mistakes/train wrecks?

  20. Donald Byrd

    in Artists

    Posted

    I don't want to put RIP in the title yet but this does appear to be the case.

    I'll let you all know when I know with 100% certainty .

    One of the greats of course....

    I got to hang with him a bit and talk to him on several other occasions. Quite the thinker on a number of wide ranging topics.

    I think the last time I saw him was at a Kennedy Center event in 2007......

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